If the Champions League Anthem isn't your alarm tone for Tuesday morning, can you even consider yourself a true football fan? Europe's premier club competition is officially back on September 17, boasting a brand-new look. Gone are the eight groups in the opening stages and in their place is a new "League Phase," in which all clubs are grouped together in one table. The competition is also welcoming four additional teams, bumping the number of participating European heavyweights up to 36.
Each team will play eight games during this stage against eight different teams, with the top eight in the league standings qualifying for the knockouts and teams ranked ninth through to 24th entering a playoff to earn their place in the round of 16. A full breakdown of the new format can be found here . While the system has changed, the Champions League will still bring some of Europe's most accomplished teams together in a battle for supremacy.
But this time, the level of competition is higher, and the mouthwatering ties are more plentiful. We've scoured the fixture list and ranked 10 of the most eye-catching meetings that you'll want to circle in your calendar. Aston Villa vs.
Bayern Munich - October 2 Aston Villa have returned to European football's top table for the first time since the 1982-83 competition, which was then still known as simply the European Cup. They qualified for that year's edition of the tournament after grabbing the title in the 1981-82 edition. Their opponents in th.